Who has heard of Ruth Soukup’s money saving challenge called “31 Days of Living Well & Spending Zero” challenge?
If you want to jump start your savings and/or your budget then you will want to sign up for this savings challenge! Leave a comment below if you are joining and we can help each other make it the entire 31 days!
You can go to Living Well Spending Less to get entire details and actually sign up. But let me tell you in a nutshell, what this savings challenge is all about.
Everyone always talks about their “budget”. Sure I heard it all the time and I even used the word myself, but I don’t think I really understood how to use a budget until the last couple years.
I instantly have anxiety when I think about how my husband and I used to run our finances when we were in college. We would do things like pick an apartment based on nothing else other than what we “thought” we could afford. We never sat down to look at our income and actually run the numbers. Stressful to think about!
After many “lesson learned” experiences we have a system going for us right now that works pretty good. It’s not perfect but very helpful and a huge stress reliever. When finances run smoothly (this doesn’t mean we have a lot of money, just that we manage it better) it’s amazing how other things in life run better.
Are you someone who loves to go to the movies? Do you love to go see the latest flick the very night it opens? I am a person who would love to do that but going to the movies is crazy expensive. We usually only go to the theaters if we have been given a gift card. On a very rare occasion we will pay full price if there is a movie that we just cannot wait to watch at home.
Okay cool, I got a babysitter for Friday night! But how much should I pay her?
I remember the first time I was hiring a babysitter for my sweet little baby girl. I was so nervous! I was nervous about leaving my baby at home and I was nervous because I had no idea how much I should pay her!
You don’t want to pay too much on the first job. That would set the bar too high! You don’t want to pay too little or she might never come back!
So naturally I started asking all of my friends what they paid their babysitters. I was a little surprised to hear how much everyone’s answers varied. Some paid on the high end around $10+ per hour and some were paying about half of that.
The hard answer to the question is that it really just depends on the babysitter and the circumstances of the job.
I found that the families paying more money per hour, were expecting a lot more for their money. Here are a few tips to help you decide how much to pay your next babysitter.
It happens to almost everyone… You decide it’s time to sit down and look over your bank account and your budget. Both you and your sweetie are dreading the conversation because you just know that it is going to end in a high intensity discussion and you would rather cuddle up and watch a movie on the couch.
Although I wasn’t able to specifically pin down a cold-hard statistic on how financial issues influence marriage, I think it is safe to say that financial problems are one of the highest influences when it comes to marital disagreements.
But guess what! Going over your budget doesn’t have to involve a yelling match. We all know we should never yell in our homes. Right?
I have lived in California my entire life except for 5 years when I lived in Idaho to go to college. It took about 18 hours for us to drive from school back home! Do you know how long 18 hours feels when you are in a car? I do and have done the drive multiple times.
So I have a little experience in the road trip department. Especially since this time in my life my husband and I were broke newlywed college students. Not much money at all! We learned a few road trip tips on how to save money while you travel and I want to share them with you!
Congratulations! Getting married is one of the biggest achievements in a person’s life. You have put a lot of thought, time and love into this big decision. But have you thought that you need to put a similar effort into your soon to be combined finances? Before you get married there are a few financial conversations you should have.
If you are already married, congratulations to you too! Maybe you have already gone over these topics and are totally on top of your financial game. Don’t write these conversations off! It’s always a great idea to keep these topics at the center of your finances to make sure you are always on the same page.
Have you noticed how expensive it can be to buy maternity clothes? If you have ever been in the market to dress up your baby bump then I know you have noticed those crazy price tags!
I remember with my second pregnancy, first baby, (long sad story, for another time maybe) I was about 20 weeks prego and my mom and I decided to go to the mall to start buying some maternity clothes. Of coarse our first stop was in one of those super cute maternity shops. Whoa! Sticker shock would be an understatement!
I’m not sure about you but no matter how much money we are making in the future, I am not going to be spending that kind of money on my clothes! Especially clothes that will only fit me for about five months! I remember feeling a little sad thinking that I was only going to be able to afford maybe two shirts! How was that going to last me through me whole pregnancy?
We decided to look elsewhere! Have you ever felt the same way?
Don’t worry! I got your back! Or maybe I should say, I got your bump! (Cheesy! Sorry not sorry!) Today I am going to share with you all the tips I have used to save money on maternity clothes!
